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Mike Ashley

Christmas Tree

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Dave

Dave

Posted
Posted

This may have been answered on a previous page so please point me in that direction if it has but if you've started due diligence then you've agreed in principal to a price right ?  Otherwise it's just negotiations at this point. Of course that's on the assumption tat the journalists are using the correct term.

 

Doubt it, just means both sides understand there's a genuine intent to do a deal.

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Guest firetotheworks

Guest firetotheworks

Posted
Posted

There's no mention of anything being staged or it being collusion with Sky on .com at present anyway. ???

 

Wake up sheeple. The .com conspiracy is a .com conspiracy.

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David Icke - Son of God

David Icke - Son of God

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Posted

.com have similar views to me in that this could all be nicely staged.  Whoever invented that phrase 'It's the hope that kills you' missed a merchandise trick up here mind.

 

I'm also very skeptical, but I do wonder what she'd get out of this if that was the case. She appears to be a serious businesswoman in control of vast sums of wealth.

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Mattoon

Mattoon

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Staging it with an hitherto completely unrelated and totally separate business that has its own reputation to uphold?

 

Why?

Exactly what I was thinking, if it was a Barry Moat type character I'd tend to agree but this is a whole different scenario, she brokered the deal for Man City and has had 2 attempts at buying out Liverpool. I can't see Amanda Staveley being involved in a staged bidding and if it weren't true she'd be the first out to deny it. The only way it could be a rouse is if Ashley himself is setting it up to pull the rug. To think this is anything other than genuine interest is hollow earth levels of lunacy.

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afar

afar

Posted
Posted

Staging it with an hitherto completely unrelated and totally separate business that has its own reputation to uphold?

 

Why?

 

I don't know much about her but considering her CV and background, I have a hard time believing Amanda would agree to be part of an elaborate ruse, with the intention of what exactly ? I am pretty certain that there is genuine interest here from both sides, whether it comes to a happy ending is still very much debatable however.

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henke

henke

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Posted

Re due diligence. They won't have agreed a price but to start due diligence I'd say they'll have discussed the price and both sides would be thinking ok we're not a million miles apart and confident a deal can be done.

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hallihg

hallihg

Posted
Posted

Re due diligence. They won't have agreed a price but to start due diligence I'd say they'll have discussed the price and both sides would be thinking ok we're not a million miles apart and confident a deal can be done.

 

This- due diligence is a thorough and costly process, especially when buying from Mike Ashley

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Guest firetotheworks

Guest firetotheworks

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I'll bite the bullet and copy and paste from that shit rag.

 

Almost a decade ago, Amanda Staveley made a statement that said a lot about who she is.

 

'It is not about money,' Staveley said. 'It wouldn't matter if I was making £8million or £200m. I just want to go to bed at night and say I've done a good job.'

 

It suggested that, to her, that mind-numbing amount of cash is nothing.

 

It should come as little surprise, then, that this 44-year-old with plenty of Middle Eastern contacts – and past experience in taking over a Premier League club – is willing to pay £300m to purchase Newcastle United.

 

Staveley's investment fund PCP Capital Partners is backed by £28billion from the Middle East and China and she is one of the financial world's most powerful players.

 

Should a deal be done, she would become the new face of the North East club, pushing owner Mike Ashley to the exit once and for all.

 

If £8m is indeed peanuts to her, and she is thought to have a personal fortune of £100m, then Newcastle's supporters would hope that means she would be willing to invest significantly more in the transfer market.

 

So as football fans scramble to find more about this money-broking power-player, they will learn that she is no stranger to the limelight.

 

Staveley was in a relationship with Prince Andrew, Duke of York and she avoided a life of intense tabloid interest by apparently turning down a marriage proposal in 2003.

 

In 2011 she married Mehrdad Ghodoussi, a handsome Iranian who worked with her at her company, in a lavish ceremony in West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire. Guests included the artist Tracey Emin and the bride's wedding dress was designed by Sarah Burton, who was responsible for Kate Middleton's gown.

 

The couple have a child together - Alexander, nicknamed Lexi, born in 2014.

 

He was born prematurely after Staveley went into labour in a business meeting but is now a healthy little boy.

 

So why football? Why a business where each and every decision she makes would be scrutinised by millions of fans?

 

Staveley is not new to sport, having been well involved in the horse racing world. Like football, their owners have the largest of bank balances.

 

When in her twenties, she took out a £180,000 loan to buy a restaurant named Stocks near Cambridge and Newmarket racecourse. It was regularly visited by trainers and owners, giving her an opportunity to make the contacts she craved. Her entrepreneurial career was on its way.

 

She lived for banking and business, and started to get involved in the financial world. From there, it snowballed.

 

Staveley first met Prince Andrew in the United Arab Emirates during a visit as part of his role as a trade ambassador, in 2001.

 

She had just ended a tempestuous two-year relationship with millionaire venture capitalist Mark Horrocks, then 39.

 

Her relationship with the prince blossomed quickly and was mutually beneficial in many ways. As trade envoy, Prince Andrew could open doors to the contacts she craved.

 

Meanwhile, he enjoyed introducing people to his new ‘female friend’, whose glamour was equalled by her charm and intelligence — an enviable asset for Prince Andrew, who is often considered socially rather gauche.

 

Friends noted how she called him ‘Babe’, and he sent her racy jokes in text messages and emails during his travels around the world.

 

She became a regular visitor to Buckingham Palace, Sandringham and Royal Lodge, Andrew’s home in Windsor Great Park, which she helped him decorate. She was even introduced to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who were said to have approved of her.

 

The Queen and Prince Philip were impressed with Andrew’s new love. Staveley’s parents were equally excited about the prospect she could one day become a princess.

 

In 2003, the Prince, who was said to be besotted by her, popped the question. But Amanda struggled to envisage herself idling away her hours with official duties and being unable to speak her mind.

 

‘Andrew’s a lovely man and I still care for him a great deal,’ she told this newspaper a few years ago. ‘But if I’d married him, my independence would have disappeared.’

 

It was a decision that disappointed her parents, particularly her mother, who Staveley later said took three years to get over it.

 

She once admitted: 'I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about being a girl in a family where the boy inherits. My mother and father always told me that my job was to marry well.'

 

Marrying into the Royal Family would have curtailed her commercial ambitions, too. She had considered acquiring a stake in Spearmint Rhino, the lap-dancing club, but declined because such a seedy investment would have been seen as inappropriate for a princess.

 

And so she turned to the Middle East to use her skills as a negotiator and broker deals to amass a princely sum.

 

In 2005, she set up the Dubai-based private equity company PCP Capital Partners, which soon secured international deals for clients in Qatar and the UAE.

 

The company’s role is varied. Sometimes they lobby on political issues; occasionally they simply bring powerful people together or act as intermediaries in complex negotiations. Her contacts book is, without doubt, formidable.

 

She had used her former Mayfair mews house to entertain the fashion designer Amanda Wakeley and the billionaire property-owning Duke of Westminster.

 

In 2008, at the age of 35, Staveley was involved in the takeover of Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan. That reportedly saw her take home £10m and she was labelled by some newspapers as 'the new Queen of British football'. Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia may now have some competition once more.

 

Staveley also came close to joining the Liverpool board when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai was linked was buying the Merseyside club.

 

Plus, she has been described as quite the sportswoman, liking showjumping and athletics. At the age of 14, she is said to have clocked 12.6 seconds for the 100m, and only a snapped achilles tendon stopped her from pursuing a career in that side of sport more.

 

Things could have turned out quite different for Staveley. 

 

Before opening Stocks, she had won a place to study modern languages in Cambridge and worked as a part-time model for additional money.

 

She was unfortunately forced to abandon the degree after being left in hospital suffering from stress after the death of her grandfather.

 

It soon becomes apparent that Staveley, the daughter of a wealthy Yorkshire landowner, is something of a workaholic.

 

Weeks after helping in the City takeover in 2008, Staveley brokered a deal that saw billions of pounds of Middle Eastern money put into Barclays. Her slice of the pie from that deal was £40m for her firm, with Staveley reportedly keeping a significant sum for herself.

 

With a grand Regency townhouse in Park Lane, London, and a home in Dubai, Amanda counts retail tycoon Sir Philip Green and Simon Cowell among her friends. Hers is a life of chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce Phantoms whisking her to top Mayfair restaurants, of private jets and super-yachts.

 

Prime Minister May is also among her contacts. The pair are friends and Staveley made her office in Park Lane available to the politician during her successful Conservative Party leadership bid.

 

She said last year: 'I am a huge fan of Theresa. I believe in her wholeheartedly. I will be quite honest and tell you I was a remain voter, but I know she is quite passionate about Britain staying open for business so we feel quite comfortable about Brexit.'

 

So we know why sport and football, but why Newcastle? Staveley may have answered that herself in 2002: 'If I'm shown a good idea, I can't help but look.'

 

Newcastle, with its global appeal and room to grow, represents a challenge but also an opportunity. They have a manager in Rafa Benitez who, should he stay, can take them to the next level.

 

Ashley bought the club for £134m in 2007 and officially put it up for sale earlier this week. He wants £400m, though is guaranteed to at least double his original investment.

 

He wants a deal done by Christmas. The clock is ticking.

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Guest firetotheworks

Guest firetotheworks

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Posted

A huge fan of Theresa May and mates with Simon Cowell.

 

I wasn't expecting Atticus Finch to buy us like, but that's always disappointing to find out about anyone.

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